Sunday, November 25, 2007

Lupercale update If you recall this post on a recently discovered cave in Rome, now we have this: Expert sceptical of sacred Roman cave
A LEADING Italian archaeologist said that the grotto whose discovery was announced this week in Rome is not the sacred cave linked to the myth of the city's foundation by Romulus and Remus.

The Culture Ministry and experts who presented the find said they were “reasonably certain” the cavern is the Lupercale - a sanctuary worshipped for centuries by Romans because, according to legend, a wolf nursed the twin brothers there.

But Adriano La Regina, Rome's superintendent of archaeology from 1976 to 2004, said ancient descriptions of the place suggest the Lupercale is elsewhere - 50 to 70 metres northwest of the cave discovered near Emperor Augustus' palace.

“I am positive this is not the Lupercale,” Mr La Regina told Reuters in an interview.


Has to do with the location the Lupercale supposedly was and the form of the decoration in the newly discovered one.

UPDATE: Heh.